5 Years

Don't ask me how our baby is five years old but it happened. Lilly turned 5 on Thursday and has had a few days of celebrations.

Lilly woke up to find her present waiting for her. One of Andy's colleagues refurbished our old hard drive and we bought a new monitor. She was super happy since she's been using my Mac and I don't let her on as often as she'd like (she always jams it up somehow some way). We set her page to go directly to pbskids.org and she has spent a lot of the weekend playing games.

Lilly headed off to school on her birthday with her birthday snack (rice krispie treats shaped like flowers and multi-colored), goldfish, and water. She wore her favorite jeans and her new Hello Kitty t-shirt that Ella gave to her.

After school we had Jackie's family over for dinner and cake. Lilly wanted a Barbie cake and the only one I could find was a petit cake so she got her very own. *Too bad she really doesn't eat cake just like her mommy.

Everyone else ate from this Barbie cake ...

Lilly's brothers and sister also gave her makeup, a rainbow bathing suit, a new gymnastics leotard, a sketch pad, and some Fancy Nancy books. She put on her make up for her birthday dinner (reminiscent of her recent black eye).

On Friday we headed to Chuck E. Cheese for a little celebration with two of Lilly's friends. She only asked to invite Lindsay and Timmy so we met them there for lunch. Lilly wanted to wear the same outfit (it was washed of course). She is in a major jeans phase. *Side note: Just today one knee of her jeans wore out and after a major hysterical sobbing fit, she agreed to let me put a flower patch on the knee. I can now see from these pictures that it was ready to give at any moment. I also called Gap with her sobbing in the background pleading with the lady to find me the exact pair but no such luck.

Lilly adores Timmy so much and I don't blame her. He is such a nice little boy with super sweet parents.

Ella was in her glory. She's never been to any such place and she was in Heaven. Lindsay is Ella's fellow animal lover and she helped her guide the horse.

The three stooges ...

My friends Chris and Kristen were so helpful with the babies. At one point I couldn't find them and looked over to see them hysterically laughing while holding the babies up to the sketch booth (it sketches their photo). They were laughing and the babies were sobbing. I was cracking up.

My favorite picture of the day and I didn't even take it. No clue who took it but it's so cute because Ella was really studying what she wanted to get when she turned in her tickets.
I love her reflection in the glass.

This picture is blurry but it's the very first picture I've ever taken where both boys are smiling! They were stripped down to their onesies because it was one hundred degrees in the place. I was soaked in sweat and I'm usually freezing. Gabe's cheeks were bright red and hot to touch.

This picture cracks me up because I think the ball is actually going behind Ella's head.

Lilly and Timmy sat in this ride/game for a long time. I don't even know what they were watching but it held their attention for quite some time.

Real life caught on camera. Ha. This picture says it all. How haggard do we look? I like to post pictures that are picture perfect but this just sums up our lives right now. We are so far from perfect but are so blessed and happy.

Lilly ~ our first born, our beautiful baby girl whom Mommy longed for. You are so funny, smart, sweet, spunky, and wild. You keep us on our toes and talk like you are grown. You love music and dancing and you are so observant. You remember everything and everyone. Your face lights up when you're happy and you are going to go places in your life. That, I am sure of. We love you so much. Happy 5th Birthday big girl.